Document U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,389 discloses feeders which discharge similar quantities of feed whenever a component of the feeder is operated by an animal.
The feeder disclosed in document U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,389 comprises in a known way a feed storage tank equipped with a mouth outlet in its base through which the feed passes due to the force of gravity. Said feeder is equipped with a distribution tray arranged beneath the mouth of the storage tank, which is permanently open, and whereon the feed coming from said tank collects.
The distribution tray is affixed at the lower end of a suspending rod which passes vertically through the interior of the storage tank, in such a way that the aforementioned distribution tray is in turn suspended, being capable of a swinging movement when pushed laterally by an animal. When this happens, it causes the falling of the feed which has collected on the distribution tray, and at the same time more feed is discharged from the storage tank; said feed tends to occupy the space left free on the distribution tray by the feed displaced.
The feeder disclosed allows the regulation of the distance separating the distribution tray and the mouth of the storage tank with relative ease, by varying the suspended height of the distribution tray. The greater the separating distance, the greater the quantity of feed which falls from the storage tank and which collects on the distribution tray and therefore, the greater the quantity of feed which is poured from the distribution tray when an animal moves it briskly from its position.
However, the feeder disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,389 presents a number of drawbacks. Firstly, in those situations in which the storage tank holds large quantities of feed, and said feed reaches a certain height inside the storage tank, the movement of the suspending rod, which extends through the interior of the storage tank, is hindered by the feed contained, and is blocked with a certain amount of pressure in the area next to the outlet mouth of the storage tank. In consequence, when an animal pushes the distribution tray, said tray swings with difficulty. This obstruction of the movement may also impede the tray from returning to its original position after being pushed by an animal, giving rise to an irregular operation of the feeder on being pushed once again by an animal.
In order to prevent this drawback, the upper surface of the distribution tray features a truncated conical body, whose purpose is to distribute evenly over the distribution tray the feed which falls from the storage tank and to oblige the tray to return to its original position.
An objective of this invention is to disclose an alternative solution to conventional feeders and in particular, to feeders such as that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,839,389, being constructively simple and whose operation is not hindered when a large quantity of feed is held in the storage tank.